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by M. Martin
The Texas Democratic Primary on March 4th offers a rare opportunity for
progressivelyinclined voters to have an impact. Under ordinary circumstances, if
you vote in Texas and you AREN'T a gibbering jingoistic retard, your vote doesn't
count....because you're surrounded by people who are.
This time around, things are a little different. Texas and Ohio are positioned to
confirm Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's candidate for President. If Obama
gets the nomination, the odds of him going on to win the White House are extremely
good. If it happens, he'll make history.
I'm both voting and caucusing for Obama. Here's why:
1. Inclusion Obama has a proven track record for creating a broad electoral
coalition and being able to reach across partisan divisions to work in
legislative consensus with Republicans and Independents. Both are essential for
this country to effectively turn the page after George Bush. In presenting her
credentials, Hillary Clinton never fails to reference her capacity for taking
on Republicans in a fight. She has also never once demonstrated a capacity for
transcending those fights. Recently, it has become increasingly obvious that
Clinton combativeness is by no means limited to Republican adversaries. Were
Clinton to gain the nomination, it would be by way of a process that could not
fail to alienate roughly half of the Democratic Party. The fact that this
possibility fails to alarm her offers little comfort for the rest of us.
However much Mrs. Clinton may see fit to disparage the stadiumsize crowds that
have shown up to see her opponent speak, those crowds are indicative of more
than just Obama's oratory skills. They are indicative of a grassrootslevel
organization that has spent the last year working to get out a message and
build an sense of participation....in other words, a movement.
2. Accountability Obama has consistently pushed for greater transparency in
government. His proposals include a "Google for Government" that would make the
entire federal budget searchable from a web browser. He has aggressively
pursued lobbying reforms, and been one of the current administration's harshest
critics on the issue of government secrecy. By contrast, a principal reason why
Hillary Clinton failed as her husband's 'health care czar' is that she insisted
on formulating her plan behind closed doorsup to the point of excluding
members of congress within her own party from deliberations.
The Clintons refuse to release their tax returns or make public the documentary
evidence of Hillary's supposed 'experience' gained during her husband's
presidency. One of the most troubling aspects of George Bush's presidency has
been the degree to which he has made secret what goes on in the White House.
There is no evidence to suggest that a second Clinton presidency would reverse
this trend.
3. Electability With the exception of Arkansas and New York, every contest that
Hillary Clinton has won in the current primary season has been by a thin margin
based on the Democratic Party's core constituency. Every one of the primaries
and caucuses that Barack Obama has won has been a landslide victory. Hillary
Clinton enters the general election race with the highest name recognition and
highest negatives of any politician in America. Short of improbable landslide
victories in every remaining Democratic contest for the nomination, it is
impossible for Hillary Clinton to win her party's nomination on the strength of
electoral contests alone.
If she wind at all, it is at the end of a process that drags out over a period
of months that cuts into her party's ability to organize effectively for the
general election, that alienates independent voters, and terminates with a
backroom deal so repulsive to the new voters Obama has drawn that they will
either stay home in disgust or start campaigning for Ralph Nader.
In a general election contest against John McCain, Barack Obama brings
independents and disenchanted republicans to the table, and brings a clear and
unequivocal contrast in policy and philosophy to the warmongering xenophobia so
dear to the GOP's heart. Hillary Clinton only brings her argument of
"experience" against a 71 year old senator and former soldierand the record
of having voted to authorize the same war she now claims she will work to end.
4. Change It isn't just a campaign slogan. The day that a brownskinned man with
an African surname and an Arabic middle name takes an oath to "...execute the
Office of President of the United States, and ... preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States..." the perception of America changes
utterlyboth in the World's eyes and to America itself. While electing a woman
president would also be a landmark event, the implications are not as great
particularly not on the world stage, particularly not with regard to this
woman.
America and the world need a fundamental break from the practices and policies
that resulted in and are exemplified by George W. Bush. Barack Obama would be
this country's first truly 21st century president, someone with the
multicultural background and broad understanding to heal the many divisions
that exist between America and the rest of the world, as well as those within
America itself.
Hillary Clinton voted to authorize and has failed to show the slightest shred
of remorse for what she continues to call "George Bush's War." That inability
to admit error and failure to show judgment that surpasses political expediency
squarely places her along side George Bushstuck in a "post 9/11 mindset" that
cannot possibly transcend the promises and failures of the 20th Century.
America and the world have an absolute need for moral and political leadership
that will lead us forward... and that's why I'm voting for Barack Hussein
Obama.